


Declarations

by StormySeaWitch



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: F/M, Give me credit for trying, Look I tried, One-Sided Crush, kinda angsty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-04
Updated: 2017-09-04
Packaged: 2018-12-23 19:05:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,948
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11996070
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StormySeaWitch/pseuds/StormySeaWitch
Summary: Four Times Lance Said ‘I Love You’ and One Time Pidge Said It Back





	Declarations

**Author's Note:**

> I'm practicing my angst. Let me know if it works.

 

Pidge had noticed that Lance was different. He didn’t have his usual boundless energy, his eyes were tired and unfocused, and his wit was nowhere near as sharp as usual. Conversation lulled without his jokes or humour. When asked what was wrong, he simply replied that he couldn’t sleep.

She had the beginnings of an idea building in her mind, but she didn’t know if Lance would take to it. She opened her drawer and pulled out her headphones and the ipod connected to it. She’d had it in her pocket when they’d left Earth, and Coran had shown her how she could charge it using Altean technology. Maybe it could help Lance get some sleep, and not feel so homesick?

She tiptoed down the hallway, past Hunk’s room and Shiro’s, before she found herself out the front of the blue door. Breathing deeply through her nose, Pidge knocked lightly.

She could hear him rustling on the other side, and knocked again. The door slid open with a hiss.

‘Pidge?’

‘Hey… you said you weren’t sleeping too well… I thought these might help?’ she said quickly, offering him the headphones. He took them, and his tired face lit up with surprise as the ipod came to life.

‘I can borrow them?’

‘Yeah, for as long as you need… just I might come get them if I’m working on something really tricky, and you have to make sure that you charge it, but yeah… you can borrow them,’ she chattered, pushing her glasses further up her nose.

Lance leaned forward and hugged her tightly, resting his head on her shoulder.

‘Thanks,’ he sighed.

Pidge patted him awkwardly on the back and he stood up again. He looped the headphones around his neck and gave her a brilliant smile.

‘See you in the morning,’ she smiled, turning back to the direction of her room. The door shut behind her with another hiss, and she felt happy that she might have been able to help him.

The following morning, the difference in Lance was obvious. He was grinning from ear to ear, flirting terribly with Allura and laughing with Hunk. When he passed behind Pidge, he leaned over the chair and hugged her tightly from behind.

‘I love you Pidgey,’ he said warmly. ‘It worked perfectly, thank you!’

Pidge shuffled awkwardly in her seat after he let her go. He was so  _warm_.

#

Recon missions with Lance were always the best. Hunk was overly cautious, Keith was overly reckless and Shiro was too much of a dad for her to have any real fun. Lance was happy to stand beside her and chatter while she filled pouches with plant samples she found in the dirt and on various trees.

‘Lance, check this out,’ she said excitedly, brushing the dirt away from her fingers.

‘Is that a carrot?’ he asked, equally excited. ‘Did you just find carrots?’

‘I mean, it looks like one?’ she grinned. ‘It could be deathly poisonous for all we know, but it might be edible too!’

‘Oh god, I miss vegetables. I never thought I’d say that, but I’d take them over goo any day.’

‘Right?’ Pidge agreed.

Lance held out a bigger bag and Pidge dug in the ground and found several more of the carrot-like vegetables. Conversation turned to other Earth foods that they missed, and by the time all the carrots had been removed from the ground they were starving.

Lance walked close enough to her that she could feel his arm brush hers more often than not. She felt tension, and wondered where it had come from, or if he felt it to. When the Blue Lion came into view, it dissipated, leaving Pidge feeling warm and confused.

Back in the kitchen, they proudly dumped their goodies on to the bench. Coran held one up, and gave a short yelp.

‘These aren’t vegetables!’ he cried. ‘These are Skugg eggs!’

‘Skugg?’ Pidge repeated with a frown.

‘Large predators with six arms and claws that can slice through a ship,’ Coran explained. ‘Definitely not edible, but we need to get off this planet before the parent realises they’re missing!’

Pidge shared a look with Lance, who was trying not to laugh.

‘It’s okay Pidge, I still love you even if you did steal carrots with predatory babies inside,’ Lance said with a grin and a finger gun.

Pidge rolled her eyes, and her stomach turned a little for reasons she couldn’t explain.  

#

The thrill of battle was something that Pidge didn’t know if she really truly loved, or if it was the combined emotions of her fellow Paladins coming through the bond they shared. She could isolate bits and pieces and identify who they belonged to; the impulsiveness of Keith and the Red Lion, the protective feelings came from Hunk and the Yellow Lion, and the pure, driven focus with an underlying fear of  _something_  came from Shiro. From Lance, it was always pure joy. They could be outnumbered a hundred to one and Lance would still be feeling that exhilaration of just being able to fly.

She managed to loop her lion around an oncoming Galra ship and their claws shredded the hull to pieces. She marvelled in the loud explosion she left behind her, and felt a prickle of pride as she joined the other lions.

‘Lance, use that booster I added to your lion,’ she said through her comms.

‘It’s not gonna blow up, is it?’ he asked, and she snorted.

‘Feeling the love, Lance,’ she replied, swerving her lion around another group of Galran ships.

Lance engaged the booster, and the team could hear his delighted whooping through their helmets. He whirled the lion around with the agility of a literal cat and caught another ship in the Blue Lion’s jaws.

‘Man, Pidge I  _love_  you, this is great!’

Pidge felt her neck grow warm, and it spread across her cheeks. Her embarrassment got worse when she realised that they were all connected through the bond with their lions.

‘Pidge are you  _embarrassed_?’ Lance asked, a cheekiness in his voice.

‘No,’ she fired back, glad they couldn’t see that her face was as red as Keith’s lion.

‘There’s no need to be embarrassed Pidge,’ Hunk told her. ‘We all know your modifications are amazing, you can acknowledge it.’

Pidge sighed and leaned back in her chair as the others agreed with Hunk about how clever she was and how her tech was amazing. Her lion gave a reassuring rumble, and she patted the dashboard in thanks.

Her face was still burning.

#

Pidge glared down at Lance’s feet – he’d sat himself on the other end of the couch and draped his ridiculously long legs right over her lap. He gave her a cheeky grin and wiggled down into the seat, making himself comfortable.

‘Comfy?’ Pidge asked, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

‘Yep,’ Lance replied, popping the p.

She gave his feet a good shove so they landed on the floor. He kicked them back up again, and Pidge didn’t have the energy to fight him.

‘Love you Pidgey,’ he grinned, sensing her defeat. She leaned back until her head smacked against the back of the couch.

‘Why do you say that?’ she asked, feeling her neck get warmer. ‘You don’t mean it.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘I love you. You say it all the time but you don’t actually mean it. You wouldn’t say it all the time if you meant it,’ she said, a hint of bitterness creeping into her voice.

‘Of course I mean it,’ Lance replied, outraged. ‘I love you and Hunk and Shiro and Allura and Coran and even Keith a little bit but don’t tell him because he’ll never let me forget it.’

‘But you don’t mean like…  _love_ , you just mean… friendship love,’ Pidge clarified, chancing a look at him. He was looking at her with a curious expression.

‘Why does that make it any less? I love my mum and my siblings. I love Beyonce and Ariana. I love you,’ Lance explained, leaning back into the couch again.

‘Stop saying it, please,’ she sighed, shoving his feet back off her lap. She stood up, and he grabbed her wrist, fast as anything.

‘I won’t say it if it makes you uncomfortable, but it’s true Pidgey. You’re family, you know?’

She didn’t really know what her facial expression looked like, but it made him recoil a little bit and wince overdramatically.

‘Pidgey used  _mean look_ , it’s super effective,’ he said, and she couldn’t fight the bubble of laughter that escaped her.

‘Pidgey can’t even learn that move,’ she fired back. All the tension was gone. They were back to being normal friends.

_Friends_.

#

Pidge was in her room.

Having a crisis.

Because Lance loved her.

But Lance loved her  _like a friend_.

And part of her thought that maybe she loved him a little bit  _more_ than that. She hated it.

‘Pidge, are you coming to dinner?’ Hunk asked, and she replied with a groan, stuffing her face into her pillow.

‘No.’

‘Okay, what’s wrong?’ Hunk said quietly, sitting on the end of her bed. She ignored him out of stubbornness, but his gentle presence eventually coaxed her out of the blankets.

‘Lance,’ she sighed, hugging her pillow. ‘He’s just so…  _annoying_.’

‘I know,’ Hunk told her, giving her a gentle nudge. ‘He’s a lot to deal with when he gets going.’

‘It’s his stupid face! He’s everywhere and he keeps saying all these confusing things and I don’t know what to do,’ she sniffed, feeling pathetic.

‘Have you considered actually talking to Lance about how you feel?’

‘No,’ she mumbled, hugging her pillow tighter. ‘He doesn’t like me like that.’

‘How do you know?’

‘He loves me like I’m his family, Hunk. I’m a dorky little sister. We all know Lance likes glamourous people,’ she told him, rocking slightly on her bed. Hunk raised an eyebrow. She managed to get into a short lived stare off with him, but his warm eyes won out in the end. ‘Fine, fine, I’ll talk to him.’

Hunk smiled at her, and they walked together towards the kitchen.

Pidge stayed behind after dinner to clean the dishes, and Hunk somehow managed to get Lance to dry up for her. He gave her a sneaky thumbs up as he ushered the rest of the team out of the room, and then they were alone.

‘You okay?’ Lance asked, leaning against the counter. ‘You’re awfully quiet for a gremlin.’

‘Gremlins can be quiet,’ she replied, stacking plates neatly beside each other. ‘Maybe I’m just thinking about stuff.’

‘What kinda stuff?’

‘Nunya business stuff,’ she grinned, and he shrugged in response. Once she’d washed all of the dishes she grabbed a tea towel to help him dry and put away.

‘Are you okay though?’ Lance asked after a while, and she shrugged.

‘Just working some stuff out,’ she told him. ‘It’s nothing, really.’

‘Okay, if you say so.’

They put the last dish away and stood back to admire their handiwork. Lance leaned on her shoulder with his elbow, and she couldn’t help but lean into him.

‘I love you Lance,’ she said quietly, feeling her face warm up. She felt tension in his body for a moment before her turned to look at her.

‘I love you too, Pidgey!’ he said with that smile. He ruffled her hair lightly and made his way towards the door. ‘Coming?’

‘Just a moment,’ she replied, and he vanished.

She kicked the counter in a childish display of frustration, and gripped her hair. She was the little sister. Nothing more.

Never anything more than a kid. 


End file.
